Look at that stretch starting with Alabama and ending with Illinois. That’s brutal.
OT: Wisconsin schedule…my goodness
- Thread starter Arizona Knight
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Look at that stretch starting with Alabama and ending with Illinois. That’s brutal.
According to Bama fans, just put them in the playoff now for SOS.
That's called how to get your coach fired in 6 games or less. They also have Indiana and Washington, good luck with that Fickell, see you on the unemployment line.
I was about to say Fickell’s swan song lol.
But who knows, year to year things change and can be hard to predict.
Looks like Indiana is going to have a nice record again….and they will bring back the bull mascot.
It all depends on the play of the QB next year. IU has to find another quality QB to repeat success.
That Indiana schedule looks even easier than ours did on paper this past year.
I've been rooting for them all year but they could go back from whence they came as well. Everything changes year to year with portal and what not so what you see one year (good/bad) might not be what you see the next year (good/bad).
I've been telling folks the good 'ol days of being in the B1G west are over for Wiscy/Iowa. Those yearly 9-10 win seasons R over....
He only tells it to legends.
Wisconsin was not a legend. They were a leader in the old divisions. Those old divisions were more balanced than the East/West.
This X poster has the best X handle ever.
Paywall but an excerpt
Wisconsin ended up with a slate no one will envy. The Badgers’ October slate includes a trip to Michigan, home dates with Iowa and Ohio State and then a flight to Oregon. Kenny conceded that “maybe it’s the most difficult stretch for any school in the conference.”
“The Wisconsin one was really tricky. We spent a lot of time on that one,” Kenny said.
Wisconsin’s Week 3 game at Alabama created challenges in how league officials built the overall schedule. They wanted to put some distance between the Badgers’ trip to Tuscaloosa and their high-profile Big Ten opponents.
“We looked at a lot of versions that had the Michigan game or the Ohio State game immediately after that Alabama trip,” Kenny said. “We didn’t feel like that was a great way for them to start off conference play by having a road game there and then potentially a road game at Ann Arbor, or even a home game against Ohio State immediately coming out of that Alabama game.”
Wisconsin ended up with a slate no one will envy. The Badgers’ October slate includes a trip to Michigan, home dates with Iowa and Ohio State and then a flight to Oregon. Kenny conceded that “maybe it’s the most difficult stretch for any school in the conference.”
“The Wisconsin one was really tricky. We spent a lot of time on that one,” Kenny said.
Wisconsin’s Week 3 game at Alabama created challenges in how league officials built the overall schedule. They wanted to put some distance between the Badgers’ trip to Tuscaloosa and their high-profile Big Ten opponents.
“We looked at a lot of versions that had the Michigan game or the Ohio State game immediately after that Alabama trip,” Kenny said. “We didn’t feel like that was a great way for them to start off conference play by having a road game there and then potentially a road game at Ann Arbor, or even a home game against Ohio State immediately coming out of that Alabama game.”
Perhaps cynical, but reading the article, it seems all they really care about is the ratings and the television money. They talk of story lines, but that's just cover to say they want the most eyeballs and money for their games.
Whether they admit it or not, all league officials monitor their rival conferences’ approaches and adjust accordingly. ABC’s Week 5 broadcast of Georgia at Alabama generated nearly 12 million viewers and set the sport’s tone for much of the season. The Big Ten chose a similar strategy in 2025 by scheduling Oregon at Penn State on Sept. 27 in a conference championship game rematch.
Fickell is in a pickle.
#IAmLegend 😂
Wisconsin seems to be in panic mode. The HC came in with a lot of hype but learned Madison isn't Cincinnati of the AAC. If the transfer QB is solid, they can settle things down and get back to a bowl game. Indiana caught lightning in a bottle. Now the question is, can they repeat it? The beauty of the NIL is lightning can strike the same spot over and over. IU can dip back into the portal, but the one glaring problem I see is depth. IU had quality starters, but depth was an issue. IU was lucky to not sustain injuries, but if they do it can be a return to IU of the past.
I’d guess 6-8 wins with 3 easy OOC games for IU. They have to replace Rourke and Sunseri in leaving as qb coach to be OC at UCLA.
I’ve been rooting for them and had put a higher ceiling (which they surpassed) on them than most here did this year but I’d be surprised if they come close to repeating what they’ve done this year or getting double digit wins.
The firing of Paul Chryst is somewhat reminiscent of Nebraska's firing of Bo Pelini (without the vitriol) or Kansas' firing of Mark Mangino (without the scandal).
Nebraska never fired Pelini after he was fired, and have been relegated to mediocrity or worse. It's not clear if they will ever recover their past glory, unless they put Tom Osborne back on the sidelines?
It's also taken Kansas a long time to climb back to winning ways after they fired Mangino for good reason.
Wisconsin had good reasons to ditch Chryst. Apparently his recruiting was subpar and he had loyalty to feckless underlings whom he would not fire. Maybe we are just seeing the poor recruiting and other issues bubbling up with Fickell now. But Wisconsin is not a place that is particularly patient. They also need to face the new reality of not being in the West division.
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